Bruegel: Reinvigorating the EU-Algeria Energy Cooperation

In the aftermath of the 2014 Ukraine crisis the European Union (EU) revitalised its quest for security of natural gas supply. The double aim was to diversify its market away from a perceived over-reliance on Russian natural gas supplies and to make it more resilient to potential supply disruptions. Pushing ahead with this plan, the EU commissioner for climate action and energy Miguel Arias Cañete visited Algiers on 5 May 2015 to launch together with the minister for energy and mines of Algeria Yousef Yousfia new high-level political dialogue on energy matters. This new initiative aims to enhance the bilateral energy cooperation, in particular through the creation of two groups of experts, dealing respectively with natural gas and with electricity, renewables and energy efficiency.

In this blogpost we will argue that, while natural gas currently represents the most important area of energy cooperation, the partners should focus their attention on energy efficiency and renewable energy. MORE